


A Not so Simple Cold

by BoldlyProcrastinate



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: ...maybe more than a bit of fluff, Bit of Fluff, Herman being a stubborn asshole, M/M, Newton worrying, Sickfic, Unrequited Love, a bit before the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 14:11:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4438517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoldlyProcrastinate/pseuds/BoldlyProcrastinate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Herman is sick. Really sick. He, however, is choosing to ignore how sick he is which Newton does not agree with. Fighting ensues but some realizations about their feelings for one another also come to a head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Not so Simple Cold

**Author's Note:**

> I seriously suck at summaries. I love this fandom though and I really love this pairing.  
> This is my first fic with these two so hopefully you guys like it. I have a ton of other ideas for stories pertaining to them :)

Herman woke up feeling atrocious. He had stabbing pain in his throat, a screaming headache, nausea, and, to top it all off, his leg was throbbing far more than usual; definitely too much for his meds to even take off the edge of his pain. 

All he wanted to do was remain in bed for the day, maybe even a month with the way he was feeling. Much to his dismay, he knew he could not. They were in the middle of a war with the kaiju and the attacks were slowly starting to become more and more frequent. He had to push on and get things going. The world depended on it.

He slowly pulled himself out of bed at that thought and practically crawled to shower. He sat in there until the water ran cold, even using the bench provided in the shower for his ‘disability’. Nothing seemed to help. As the water transitioned from hot to colder and colder he realized there was simply no hope in it relieving some of his ailments so he turned it off and climbed out as gingerly as he could. He then made his way to the lab, stopping for tea and something small to eat in hopes of quelling his nausea and sore throat that way.

He didn’t know which part of that idea was worse, the tea or the toast he tried to eat. The tea made his throat ache even more and he barely got half a piece of toast down before throwing it all up in the waste bin near his desk. He thanked the gods that Newton had yet to arrive to the lab. He could not tolerate him making a fuss over this. Not when there was so much work to get down.

He gathered himself and climbed the ladder to his beloved chalkboard filled with equations that he knew had the answer to ending this war somewhere, He just had to focus and put everything aside in order to find it. It was an hour later when Newton arrived to the lab holding a cup of coffee and a donut.

“Hey Herm, what’s u-whoa, dude! You okay? You look a little rough man.”

Frustrated, Herman grit his teeth, “I’m fine, thank you. I do not appreciate your rude comments on my appearance this early in the day.”

“You sure? You’re looking super pale, even a little green in the face.”

“I’m fine Newton. It is merely a small cold. Please, just go focus on your work and leave me alone.”

“Alright. Fine…Just let me know if you need anything.” With that, Newton went to his side of the lab and started dissecting some of his infernal kaiju specimens.

The next six hours were spent in near absolute silence aside from the equipment running on Newton’s side of the lab and the sound of chalk the blackboard of Herman’s side. There were moments in the time where Herman would have yelled at Newton for his mess or his music but he simply did not have the energy to do so. 

Newt finally broke the silence when his stomach growled loudly. “I’m starving. Hey Herman, I’m getting lunch. Want to join me?”

Herman was still feeling horrendous and the mere thought of food made his nausea even worse. “No thank you. I’m not hungry.”

“Dude, you’ve got to eat something. You still look like death. You actually look shitty than you did earlier which can’t be good. If you don’t want to come down, then I’ll just bring you something. I’m sure eating will make things a---“

“Newton! I said I’m fine.”

“Look dude, you feel bad enough to not eat anything or even finish your tea, you should probably go to medical and get checked out. There is no way you can continue the way you are. You are sick dude. Really sick.”

Herman was beyond frustrated at this point. His head was screaming and he wanted Newton to just remain silent. “I have already told you I am fine Dr. Geizler. Why don’t you mind your own business and leave me alone?”

“Well excuse me for diving a damn about you, you asshole. I was only trying to help for fuck’s sake. Next time I’ll remember to leave you alone!” Newt stormed out of the lab before Herman could even think of a retort.

Now, on top of being horrendously ill, he was feeling guilty for being so harsh with Newton. All the man had been trying to do was make sure he was ok and he had thrown that kindness right back in his face. He sighed, thinking maybe Newton was somewhat right (of course, he wouldn’t admit that out loud) and climbed down the ladder to get a drink. 

The problem was, the drink of water made his throat burn more and made his stomach turn. Before he could try another drink, he threw up the little bit of water he had drank and the rest of the contents of his stomach. He decided that he would just ignore how ill he was until he completed the day’s work. He could not afford losing valuable time simply because he was ill. People were dying and funds were being cut more and more. They needed to end this war soon.

Newton returned to lab after about an hour, not even looking in Herman’s direction.

It was nearly twelve hours later that Newton said something to Herman.

“Hey Herman?”

Herman wanted to speak but had trouble at first. The lack of fluids and how sore his throat was made it difficult. He rasped, “What?”

Newton hesitated, running his hands through his hair before saying what he intended. “Look, I know you don’t want me to bug you and all and you want me to ignore how crummy you look but I just can’t man. You look like you’re gonna pass out at any moment and you’re way paler now than you were when I first came in the lab today, which was over eighteen hours ago. I don’t even know how it’s even possible for you to have actually gotten paler but you have. In the time we’ve been here, I’ve not seen you climb off that ladder more than once for a drink and it didn’t look like it went all that well.” He paused, speaking a little quieter, his voice etched with worry. “You really should come down and rest a bit. You’re gonna kill yourself up there”

Herman went to turn and say something in response to Newton’s ridiculous worrying over him but never got that far. When he started to turn his head, the world started to spin and his vision blurred. His leg gave and the next thing he knew, his side and his leg were screaming in pain as he feel from his ladder and crashed to the floor. His vision blurred and then everything went black. The last thing he remembered was hearing Newton frantically yelling his name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Herman came to, the first thing he registered in his mind was the beeping of his heart monitor and realized he had to have been brought to medical. How long had he been here? He needed to get back to his work. 

As annoying as the realization of being in medical was, he had to admit, he felt much better than he had before. His throat no longer hurt, his headache was gone and so was his nausea. His leg, however, still hurt He had honestly forgotten about the fall. The memory of it was a bit hazy. That being said, it probably explained why his side hurt as well as his leg.

It was then that he looked over to see Newton was in the chair next to his bed with his legs curled tightly to his chest. He didn’t seem to notice that Herman had woken up as he gazed at the floor, a worried expression etched on his face.

“How long have I been here And why are you still here?” Herman quietly asked.

Upon hearing Herman, Newt, jumped out of his reverie. “Dude, you’ve been here for nearly an entire day. It’s been like 20 some hours. I’m still here because you fucking fainted and fell form pretty high up off your ladder. I was worried you asshole and I still am! You have the flu and you were severely dehydrated and exhausted. To top it off, crashing into the ground off your ladder left you with two cracked ribs, a bruised shoulder, and probably a great deal of pain in your leg!” By this point, Newton was yelling. “How could you be so careless Herman??? You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”

“I think you’re exaggerating quite a bit Newton. I merely had a cold.”

“A cold?!? Did you hear anything I said a minute ago? Are you serious right now dude?” Newton was now waving his arms frantically as he talked and pacing next to the bed. “Again, you were severely dehydrated and exhausted! Medical was shocked you were still standing after all that time.” 

Newton stopped his pacing and quieted his voice, looking down, “Why couldn’t you just listen to me for once and come to medical when I suggested it?”

Herman was annoyed. He didn’t need this from Newton right now. He was annoyed, not only from the fall but also with the fact that this was hindering his work. “I could hardly consider focusing on myself when we are in the middle of a war and people are dying left and right.” 

“And what if something happened to you because you decided to ignore how sick you were, huh? How do you think that’d make me feel? Do have any fucking idea what that would do to me?” Newton pauses, realizing he said ‘me’ instead of ‘we’. “We need you Herman…”

“I don’t see why you are so concerned.”

Newton throws his arms up and starts shouting again, “Because I care about you, you fucking jackass!”

Taken aback, “What?”

“I care about you dammit! For God’s sake, I’m in love with you!”

The words pour from Newton’s mouth before he can even think about what he is saying. He is so frustrated that he lets his feelings for Herman out without intended to and the realization hits him as he looks at the sheer shock on Herman’s face. He turns to leave when Herman grabs ahold of his wrist, tightly.

Herman needs Newton to stay here. He needs to process what Newton has just said. He had no idea Newton shares his feelings. He just can’t formulate words right now in response. Newton looks fearful, even ashamed, and responds, keeping his eyes focused on the ground, away from Herman.

“Look, Herman, I’m sorry. Just forget what I said, okay. I’m just gonna go.” Newton then tries to leave but Herman will not release his hold on Newton’s wrist.

“Wait.” Herman decides later on that it may have to do with how ill he’s been or all the medication they’ve given him but he pulls Newton towards him with all the force he can muster and presses his lips to Newton’s.

After a moment of initial shock, Newton begins to kiss him back. The kiss is filled with pent up feelings and passion that has been pushed aside for far too long. They pull apart after a few moments to catch their breath and press their foreheads together, taking a moment to breath and take it all in. 

“I’m sorry Newton..for all of this” He gestures to the room and then looks to Newton. “I didn’t realize that you shared feelings for me that are the same as mine to you.”

“Of course I—WAIT!!! What? You feel the same. You have feelings for me?” Newt shouts in a high pitched voice.

“Of course I do. I have for quite some time now.” Upon hearing this, Newton surges forward and engulfs him in another passionate kiss. As they pull apart he asks, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“The same reason you didn’t, I guess.” Herman takes a moment, “I suppose I felt that you did not share these feelings.”

Newton sighs at hearing this and curls into Herman on the bed, “We’re idiots.”

Herman wraps his arm around Newton the best he can while lying in the bed with the IV in, “Yes, I believe we are…I’m so sorry for upsetting you and for not expressing how I felt about you sooner.”

“You better be sorry. I was so freaked out when you feel. I thought I was gonna die for a moment there.”

“Maybe I can make it up to you” Herman smirks while looking down at Newton.

“What are you thinking?” Newton asked, practically vibrating with excitement.

“How about this to start?” Herman grabs the back of Newton’s head and pulls him up into yet another kiss except this one is slower, and filled with not only apologies but of all the unsaid feelings between them.

After a few minutes of making out like teenagers (as Newt would so eloquently put it), Newton smiles, “I could get used to that kind of apology. You should definitely do shitty things more often.”

Herman chuckles and elbows him, “You’re an insufferable idiot.”

“I’m your insufferable idiot.”

“That you are.” Herman says this as Newt curls up next to him on the bed again. They fall asleep holding one another and wearing smiles larger than either can remember having before.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed and feel free to comment. I'm just getting into fiction writing so any feedback is appreciated :)


End file.
